We are all aware of our LYS – our local shop and the need to promote it.  Not only do these stores offer yarns and notions, they offer something that online ordering cannot — support.  A friendly face (hopefully!) that is willing to help with knitting questions. 

Such neighborhood shops are not limited to yarn.  Shocking, I know!  How about your local hardware store?  Do you even have one left or has Home Depot driven them out?

Today I would like to introduce you to a gem in my neighborhood.  If you live on Long Island, this place is worth a visit.  It is Fox Hollow Farm, a family run nursery/farm.  If you take a look at their website, you will see that they are not a garden center.  It is a family run farm that propogates most, if not all, of what they sell with an emphasis on hosta and daylily varieties. The family home is on the grounds and you are free to tour the gardens.

I first became aware of this place when I took the Master Gardening program and met the matriarch of this family, Dinah Foglia.  She is an unwavering supporter of the MG Program and is involved in all of their volunteer activities.  She is also a wealth of knowledge – especially when it comes to shade plants.

Much to my shame, it has been a number of years since I have been involved with the MG efforts – somehow family and other volunteering activities got in the way.  I stopped by Fox Hollow Farm the other day and had a nice visit with Dinah.  She didn’t exactly remember me, but was happy to show me around and share her delight with her plants.  On the left is a picture of Dinah’s sequoia – she planted it 50 years ago.  On the right is a sequoia transplant she gave me. 

This is one of my favorite parts of gardening – the sharing and history.  In one of my gardens I have daffodils and lily-of-the-valley that came from my parent’s backyard.  My mother got her original plants from her own mother’s yard. 

Hopefully someday, I will be able to share a transplant and tell someone the story of how a sequoia arrived in my yard.